NAACP’s top lobbyist to discuss Capitol Hill priorities

During the 2004 presidential election, robotic phone calls to poor, mostly black neighborhoods in Ohio informed residents that because they had been such good citizens by voting in past elections, they could vote by phone this time.

They were told they could vote by pressing “9” on their touchtone phones. It was a lie, but it was not illegal.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wants this to stop, said Hilary Shelton, director of the organization’s Washington, D.C., bureau.

The nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization endorses legislation to end deception and intimidation in elections that will be introduced this session in the U.S. Senate by Barack Obama, D-Ill., and in the House by Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio.

Shelton, the NAACP’s chief lobbyist, will discuss this and other pending legislation at the organization’s Alaska, Oregon and Washington Spring Conference tonight at the Mirabeau Park Hotel and Convention Center in Spokane Valley.

Another priority, Shelton said, is the End Racial Profiling Act, which would give citizens the right to bring civil actions against police departments.

“Now in many places, only the Justice Department can sue,” Shelton said.

The law would clearly define racial profiling, provide resources for training police and make it possible to cut off federal funds to law enforcement agencies that engage in the practice.

The NAACP also backs reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, “though we have some issues with portions of it,” Shelton said, particularly high-stakes testing.

The act is not fully funded and should emphasize remediation rather than punishment of failing schools, he said.

Also tonight, Shelton will discuss the NAACP’s Legislative Report Card for the last session of Congress, in which lawmakers were rated by how they voted on civil rights legislation.

In the Senate, Washington Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell each scored an “A,” voting with the NAACP 93 percent of the time. Idaho Republicans Larry Craig and Mike Crapo both flunked, voting with the civil rights group 11 percent of the time.

In the House, Washington Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and “Doc” Hastings and Idaho Republicans Butch Otter and Mike Simpson each scored an “F.”

To see how the lawmakers voted on individual legislation, go to http://naacp.org/programs/bureau-dc/110th_legislative_priorities.pdf.